Page 86 of Thirst Trap

Bedroom,sheets tangled. The closet is open. No note. No message.

Something clipped inside me,every sense sharpening to a blade. Someone had taken her. She wouldn’t leave her phone. She wouldn’t ignore me. Not unless she couldn’t answer.

I hit Lucas. He answered on the first ring.

“What?”

“She’s gone,” I said, raw.

A pause. “Where are you?”

“Her place. Looks like a struggle. Phone’s here.”

“I’m sending a team. Don’t move. Whoever took her knew what they were doing.”

“I’m going to find her,” I said, voice gone quiet-deadly. “And when I do… they’re dead.”

The last time I’d felt this empty, I put a man in the ground.

Tonight, I planned to fill the hole.

Chapter 50

Blood in the Water

I tore through her flat with a predator’s precision, making myself see. Half-empty glass by the bed. Cardigan over the sofa arm. The air was still warm like she’d just walked out,except she hadn’t. Not by choice. By the sink: the broken mug. Tiny flecks of blood on porcelain.

“She fought,” I muttered, jaw locking. “Good girl.”

Windows: front locked; back unlatched. Fire escape scuffed,fresh boot scrapes down the paint.

Photos. Texts to the crew.

“Pull traffic cams three blocks out, last two hours,” I barked into the phone. “Every plate, every bike, every unmarked van. Cross-check with enemies. Ten minutes.”

I dropped into the alley. Oil and piss stung my nose. Something purple glinted in grime.

Her hair tie. I pocketed it gently, like a promise, then flicked my lighter open and shut to keep from breaking the wall with my fist.

My phone buzzed. Grainy footage: dark SUV, 23:42, rolling away from her block.

Tinted. Plates ghosted. The kind of car you used when you didn’t want to be noticed.

Trace it, I typed. Now.

Rage and fear collided until breathing hurt. I stared at the empty alley where she should’ve been, at the rung she should’ve stepped down, at the life she should’ve walked back into.

“Hold on, Pen,” I said to the dark. “I’m coming.”

God help whoever touched her.

Because finding them would be mercy compared to what came next.

They took my soft.

I would answer hard.

Chapter 51